Category: E3

After years of churning out overly-serious Resident Evil sequels and spin-offs, it’s great to see Capcom back to its humourous best (well, Capcom USA, at least) by releasing new DLC for Dead Rising 3 that references its habit of adding every superlative under the sun to its every update, though the lack of “Turbo” in there surely can’t be an indicator of further revisions later, can it?

Anything but cynically launched with immediate effect to commemorate the company’s 31th fan-iversary [sic], SUDR3ARHEEXPA (deep breath) allows the standard Dead Rising 3 cast to cosplay as old Capcom favourites including the Street Fighter gang, Tofu from Resident Evil 2 and even Final Fight’s Mike Haggar, who now suspiciously looks more like Freddie Mercury than ever.

In a market overcrowded with more serious takes on pandemics, mass infections and even the less serious zombie-starring games out there, it’s great to know we can still rely on Dead Rising to present a tongue-in-cheek look at the same subject material. To quote the old Street Fighter announcer, here comes a new challenger, and, at least for now, ironically one rather tellingly exclusive to Microsoft’s flagship platform, the Xbox One, along with the rather similar Sunset Overdrive.

As perhaps Microsoft’s single biggest Xbox One exclusive in terms of sheer promotion during the company’s 2014 E3 presentation, this game really seemed like the “second son” of Jet Set Radio (who else remembers that?) and Dead Rising, only raised on a diet of what can only be described as… well, orange Lucozade is the closest fit!

Fast, riotous and certainly unique, this hyper exaggerated shooting action title based partly on grind rails even rips a page from the X-Men universe of all places with its creative decision to have mutants standing in for zombies – a sign that former genre staple may now be regarded as too commonplace in recent generations of videogames.

“You are the hero” and “customise and be who you want to be” were choice on-stage quotes from Ted Price, head of development team, Insomniac. With guns taking the place of spray paint, this highly anticipated title wears its many influences proudly on bold, vibrant sleeves, any gore traded for onomatopoeic clouds.

Expect more highlights from E3 2014 later as I will be adding my personal favourite showstoppers over the course of the day, so be sure to check back periodically. Also, in something of an exclusive, guest commentary from a renowned journalist is on the cards. Just don’t complain if such generosity becomes a regular feature!